A Heralding Nightmare
by Faragi
Summary: The world of Azeroth and Runeterra merged into one. A blood elf has visions in her dreams of impending doom, it is up to her to figure out what the meaning behind this is. An old story I wrote when I was about 15 yo for an English project.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue: Home

I looked up to the ceiling and rubbed my face. My body was exhausted, for what had been hours, felt like weeks for me. And, on top of that all, I had these words dazzling around in my head: ''Chosen, Eversong, Coming, and Prepare''. I had no idea what this could mean, or how these words even came in my head in the first place, all I knew was that they weren't a good means for sleeping. This kept tormenting me as I stepped out of my bed and walked to the mirror hanging on the wall. I looked into it. A girl with long brown hair and green eyes looked back at me. I tried to put a smile on her face but my body disagreed. It scared me that I looked so awful, but that wasn't my main preoccupation right now. I walked to the window next to my bed to open the curtains, looked through the glass at the upcoming sun. Dawn had arrived.  
I looked the stream which flows right next to my house, some salmons were skilfully swimming upstream. I walked away, to my wardrobe. I grabbed my chainmail vest and a pair of tiger-leather pants. I still tremble at the sight of the beast that was required to make it. It appeared all of the sudden right in the brush in front of me. As it leaped at me I was just able to draw my knife in a reflex and to impale the beast's throat. I equipped it. In conclusion I grabbed my hunting bow and arrow quiver from the bottom of the wardrobe and bound them to my back. I opened the door and went to the stream. I washed my hair and face. This really made me feel less tired. It is said that these waters have some magical powers and, according to me, this was true, or at least, it felt that way. As I was sitting there, I heard a familiar voice yelling 'Faragi are you coming for the hunt today?' I looked over my shoulder, there was Uzug. 'Yes', I said, 'Just a second'. Uzug is a really nice guy, he has some quite strange traits but he has a golden heart. It might be strange to see me going along so well with a green-skinned and braided-beard Orc. I, myself am an elf, but Orcs and elves befriended each other somewhere, ages ago. For the last couple of centuries, they have lived in peace together and accepted each other's rituals and habits.  
'It is time to hunt a bigger game', Uzug said. 'Let's get to the dense part of the forest where the real threats lurk in the dark'. I didn't like him speaking these words, particularly because I had had a bad night already and I knew there was something waiting for me. As we walked through the forest we came across a clearance, a hill with no vegetation which was home of a ritual circle made by the Orcs in the past. In the middle of four rocks laid a bonfire which seemed to be ever-burning by a strange blue flame. And as always Uzug had to mention that it were his ancestors that enhanced this place and made it to what it is today. We walked alongside this place for many times now and he always had to say this. I was not in the mood for these kinds of games and didn't say a word. 'What's the matter?' he said. 'Nothing' was my response, but deep inside I felt this place was calling me, attracting me.  
Nothing was spoken for quite some time until we entered the deeper forest, where the vegetation was dense and where you had to cut a path through the vines to proceed. Between two slices of my knife I heard a noise which wasn't made by either of us so I stood down and gestured Uzug to be quiet. Uzug, greedy as he was, grabbed his giant mace which was wrapped to his back with some piece of rope and was getting ready to charge in. 'No' I said, 'this one is mine', I said with a smile. 'Are you sure you can manage this on your own', he said with a grin. I shushed him. I lined up my bow and arrow and looked for the prey. Suddenly the noise came out of a brush not so far from me, and in an instant, I shot. Before I was aware of it, the beast was coming for me. It was a swine with black fur and my arrow in its flank. I strung again and shot but the beast didn't want to die it seemed. And just as it was about to charge at me it was laid to rest by a swift swing of Uzug's hammer. I felt horrible to let him have the pleasure of laughing at me. I felt dizzy and I wanted to go home but as I wanted to turn around I heard twigs snatching and the sound of horses. I gestured Uzug to be quiet and get in the brush to hide. He, not knowing what all the fuzz was about asked me what the matter was. I whispered him to be quiet and lie down, 'I hear something'. 'Hah, I don't hear a thing.'  
But his smile ran away from his face in the next seconds. 'Oops, apparently your pointy ears are good for something' he said.  
As we lay there, five knights approached. Four of them were in grey armour as you would expect them to be I could not figure out what was under those plates, but the other one had some shiny gold-coloured piece of armour, clearly, he was the leader of the group. He dismounted, walked to the lifeless body of the swine and took a good look at it. Three arrows impaled its flank. The knight drew his sword from his belt and overlooked the area around us. For a moment I thought he'd noticed us. I felt my heart beat at a horrendous rate and made myself as small as possible.  
They walked in the opposite direction of where we were, cutting down the fern as they proceeded. I crawled backwards. I wanted to run, to get out of here, but there they were again. I could see the leader's face clearly now. He had a grim look all over his face which made me fall on the ground again. One of the others drew an arrow from the beast. It was dripping with blood. They talked in some language I did not understand, all I could make out of it was the word 'Elf'.  
The one with the arrow in his hand made some gestures and pointed to the area to the left of us. They mounted their horses. It was quite funny to see how their leader was always one step ahead of the rest. He had obviously deserved leadership. However, there was no reason to laugh at this moment. As they mounted, one of the horses staggered. The leader yelled at him, but he didn't see what I had seen: He had lost something. It fell in the high grass. As they were riding away, my curiosity grew with each step they made. I took a look to the right; Uzug seemed to be very impatient as well. I put my hand on his back and whispered him to wait, expecting that it would be a trap.  
He nodded. After nothing had happened for quite some time I decided to take a careful look. I found the object in the high grass, it was a satchel. I quickly opened it and found some gold coins, a map and a paper with notes which was, of course in a strange language. I split up the gold kept the one half and gave the other half to Uzug. He laughed 'you evil witch' he said. I tried to maintain a serious face but couldn't hold my laughing, 'To the looter go the spoils'. Then I took a look at the map 'Hey that's an overview of this forest' Uzug said. 'As if I hadn't noticed that yet' I sighed. The odd thing is that some of the areas on this map are coloured blue and others green. I asked myself and Uzug whether he had any idea what this could mean, but as I expected he had no idea either. And then there was this strange paper with notes…


	2. Chapter 2

For the next few days I didn't sleep too well either, waking up several times in my sleep. I really began to wonder about the incident that had happened before. At one time, early in the morning I let myself fall to the floor and grabbed the satchel which I kept under my bed. I opened it again and looked at the contents. I did not have a clue about what these things are supposed to mean. I closed the satchel again and lay it on my bed, and went to my wardrobe to put some clothes on. When I was done I turned around and say a black raven staring through my window at me, it cawed and scratched across the window as if it wanted to tell me something. The next moment it looked up to the sky and flew away as if it was deterred by something. I walked to the window to look down and gazed at what was happening down there.  
I saw an old Orc with a cape lingering over the ground and a great staff approaching. He had a wolf pelt over his head with the teeth of it covering his forehead. The smell of incense dwelled all around him. It was funny to see flies fall to the ground whenever they got near him. The appearance was guided by Uzug. I opened the door and asked what the meaning of this event was. Before Uzug was even able to answer, the old man raised his staff and said in a calm, determined voice: 'Do not fear, young one, I am Thrall the great shaman, and I have come to help you.' Uzug added: 'A shaman is an elder who can talk with the ancestral spirits and the elements. And this shaman is the greatest of all; he should be able to help us translate the odd language.'  
I took the satchel and fished up the piece of paper. 'There you go.' I handed over the notes. Thrall took a quick look and asked us to follow. I could feel that he was going to the ritual circle. And, indeed, few moments later we arrived there. The odd thing was that it didn't seem to be burning at that time, a thing I hadn't seen before. Thrall told us to take some distance and wait while he was going down there to perform his rituals. I sat down in the grass, Uzug did the same. As Thrall neared the pile of wood the forest became more and more quiet until I couldn't even hear the wind blow through the trees anymore. Thrall said some words in a foreign language; his words were carried miles away and resonated in the distance. A pillar of flame burst from the ground and ignited the logs. The blue flame rose to the sky and seemed to have an immeasurable height. Thrall sat only a few yards away from it wriggling with his staff in the sand. I was wondering why the fire did not harm him, I breathlessly watched the happening. If I had not seen this with my own eyes I would have never believed anyone telling this story. As Thrall continued his performance, the fire shifted colours and danced. A bit later he stood up and the next second the fire was gone and the pile of wood was untouched, unconsumed by the flames.

Thrall stood up and walked to us, curious as I was I walked to him and asked what he found. 'Calm down, save your strength' he said 'you will need it'. 'What?' I asked. Before I was able to continue he interrupted me, 'You have a great task waiting if you are to save your homeland'. I tried to say something but couldn't. Thrall went on, 'These notes contain a planned invasion on Eversong by the Humans of Stormwind. You are to stop them'. 'Why me, what's going on?' I asked, utterly confused. 'Because you have the magic of one of the greatest mage families coursing through your veins, with the right training, we will be able to uncover that magic'. I was shocked, numb, after hearing these words, what was with my family? Why was nothing ever told to me? I looked up to Uzug to see what he was thinking of this. This was one of the rare times I saw him with a concerned look in his eyes, he could, just like me, not add a comment to this odd message. After a pause I asked Thrall how I was supposed to take on an onslaught of humans on my own, even after training. 'Hey, don't you think you are without me', Uzug responded to my question. Thrall turned around and observed the sky. 'You will not be alone', he said. 'Seek out the Solari, the legendary sun warriors on the summit of mount Targon, they are reclusive and do not interact much with ''foreigners'' but their timely aid will be indispensable'.  
Thrall went off in silence as we departed for my house, getting everything ready we needed for our journey. I had heard stories about the Solari before but I never actually met one of them. And now I was send there to ensure their aid in defence of my and my people's home. Uzug and I soon travelled through the woods of Eversong. After a while we reached the border of the forest where we spent the night since the day was at its end and I couldn't see a thing before me. The next day everything started calmly. I hadn't been outside our borders for years, and the sight had changed a lot since I last oversaw this area. The ruins of the Third gate of the moon, which was formerly used to protect our city before it was half laid into ashes, was completely overgrown. The once beautiful grassland which reached as far as you could see was transformed into an utter dry barren wasteland. And there was a campfire which interrupted the calm feeling. It was still smouldering. I went to my knees to examine it. 'Do you think..?' Uzug started. 'Yes' I completed his sentence and looked at him, 'The same humans as in the forest'. Suddenly a burst of light erupted from the sky in the distance. Even though it was so far away, I was still blown to the ground and blinded. Uzug managed to stay n his feet, but his muscles couldn't protect him from getting blinded as well. Once I got my sight back, I tried to figure out what that could have been. 'Whatever that was, it came from the direction of Targon', he pointed to the mountain at the horizon, 'we should hurry'. That was easier said than done. The gap between us and Targon was nothing more than desert. I turned around and looked at the Eversong woods which were not to be seen for a long time. I imagined how fortunate I was to live here. I sat down and thought, thought of what happened here and what would happen to it in the future. In the past Sylvanas, the ranger-general of Silvermoon made her last stand valiantly here against the Undead. 'We should get going' I heard 'yes, we should', I answered. We entered the desert and walked straight to Targon. The soil was hard as rock here and showed ruptures as scars. The sun burned on my face and the water supply diminished quickly. 'We will reach an oasis soon', Uzug said. 'How do you know?' I asked him. 'The ground isn't as dry as it was before'. I looked down and saw, indeed, that the sand showed less scars which would mean there is water nearby. And as expected it didn't take long until we came across an oasis. I was relieved ad commenced a sprint, dropped my bag and dived in the water. It had the size of a small lake and there were some trees growing nearby carrying fruits. Uzug grabbed our bottles out of my bag and threw them to me, 'While you are in there, fill those bottles if you like'. While pouring water into them I felt something nibbling my leg. I looked down into the water and saw a school of fish passing by. I left the water, grabbed my knife and walked to the nearby trees. 'What are you going to do?' Uzug asked. 'Fishing', I said. 'Right', he said, 'I'll get a campfire burning then'. I cut down a branch and started with removing its bark then I carved it until it resembled a spear. I walked back into the water with my already soaked clothes, aimed and impaled an unfortunate fish. I continued until I had about eight. Then I gave them to Uzug, who was searching herbs to let him unleash his cooking skills on it. Uzug is a great cook; he has earned a high reputation in his own home-city of Orgrimmar and is well-known across the continent. He took the herbs he fetched around the oasis and started preparing our dinner by removing the scales. Meanwhile, I was gathering some of the fruit that grew around here. My wet clothes dried very quickly in the relentless setting sun. I watched Uzug preparing the fish with the herbs and some of his own brought ingredients. After he had finished he asked for my spear to rack the fish on. While he was roasting I gathered some more firewood, dusk was falling in and soon we wouldn't be able to see what was around us. When I came back to the campfire I was met by the smell of delicious fish, and it tasted even better when it was done. 'Tell me', I said, 'how can you keep exceeding my expectations?' He gave me a smile and the only thing he said was that I shouldn't talk with my mouth full. 'Well', I said after finishing, 'I guess we should go sleep now, we will have a long travel tomorrow again through these barrens'. I looked into the direction from where the burst of light came earlier today but could only see back lines above a grey horizon through the trees. I threw all of the wood I had gathered on the fire, 'that will keep anything away from us while we sleep' I gave a small laugh. Uzug didn't say much except a goodnight wish. 'Goodnight', I responded, and turned around. For the first time in ages I woke up relaxed and recovered with nothing to pester me in my dreams. Uzug was still sound asleep on the other side of what was formerly a campfire but what was nothing more than white coals now. I was washing my face when I heard a sudden, terrifying noise which made my heart skip a beat. I turned around and saw Uzug stretching his arms, yawning. I heaved a sigh of relief and asked him to never do that again. 'What?' he asked. 'That', I responded, scaring the hell out of me. He laughed in his heavily-voiced manner. 'I will get you', I thought to myself, 'just wait'. 'We got to get moving' I said as I was filling our bottles again. Uzug and I ate some fruit I had gathered, it tasted a bit odd, but it was not that bad after all. We moved out. I could see mount Targon now clearly, the lower parts were all green and the summit was covered in a dense mist. 'We should be able to reach it late afternoon', I said. Uzug mumbled some, still not fully conscious, which made me laugh on the inside. Nothing much happened until we came to a shift in landscape. The dry ground made place for grasslands and we could see the first buildings on the lower parts of the mountain. It was not for long until we first met two warriors of the Rakkor clan. Two soldiers in fully plated bronze armour approached us. The first one asked what we were doing here in their lands. 'I am Faragi, and this is my friend Uzug, we were sent here by the earth-shaman, Thrall on a mission of great importance for our people', I responded. When I mentioned Thrall's name I could see a spark igniting in their eyes. They looked at each other, nodded, placed their spears in the ground and introduced themselves. The first man was known as Pantheon, the other one goes by the name of Shen. 'We bear a message for the Solari from Thrall', I said, eagerly waiting for the response. 'If you were truly sent by Thrall, we have no reason to let you not pass', Shen said, 'I will notify the High Council, you will go with Pantheon', He left with a quick pace. Pantheon invited us to join him at his house while Shen would depart for Targon's peak. We could see Shen running in the distance as we calmly walked into a small town. The houses here were quite simple 'We are outside training most of the time', Pantheon said. I felt quite unsure with the local people staring at us as we walked through the streets full of seasoned warriors but Pantheon's presence clearly made them think twice before doing anything. We reached his house without problems. It was a small house with only a table with four chars and a bed. On one of the walls was a fireplace with a chimney within the corner next to a pane which leaded to the basement. It was there he went after telling us to have a seat. He returned without his helmet this time. He had short black hair, and an unharmed face nothing like Uzug's, whose face had a few scars and looked as if it was built by war. He held an unlabelled bottle and four glasses. Why he got four was a miracle to me but he explained. 'I am expecting a visitor', he smiled, as he filled three glasses. 'Drink this, you don't want anything else after tasting it', he said. I must say that this was quite good. 'What is it', I asked after drinking my glass empty in an instant. 'Fruit juice from our own plantations with a few herbs in them to make it a bit spicy'. 'Here', he said filling the glasses again when someone knocked on the door. 'Who's there?' Pantheon said in a loud voice. 'The sun', a female voice answered. Pantheon walked to the door, opened it and hugged the figure behind it. He walked in with a woman with brown, golden hair in red and golden armour, a shield with a sun emblem on top of it and a well crafted sword. She laid those in a corner and joined us at the table, while Pantheon introduced us to her and her to us. 'This is Leona, Leona this is Faragi and this is Uzug', he said as he held his hand up to each one of us accordingly. 'Hello', she said as we shook hands. Pantheon continued, 'We have been together since we were kids'. Leona blushed a bit as I let out a small laugh in response. 'What is it?' Pantheon asked, confused. 'Nothing', I said. 'I think we will go along pretty well', I thought, smiling at it. Pantheon went back downstairs after pouring in Leona's glass. 'So', I began 'how did you two met', I asked curiously'. 'That is a quite embarrassing story' she said, 'he actually defended me from two bullies who were picking on me when I was about eight years old, we have been together ever since', she paused, 'Not all of the Rakkor clan are as nice as he is'. 'Are you from the Rakkor clan as well?' I asked before thinking. 'Originally I am, yes'. 'But what's with this armour then?' Pantheon had come up meanwhile and he sat down next to Leona while she continued her story. 'I was asked to join the Solari', she answered. This sentence left me in confusion and Pantheon seemed to read that in my eyes. 'The Rakkor', he started, 'bring forth the strongest warriors in the area, they organise tournaments when our people are considered old enough, two members fight each other to the death, Leona was called too, however, she refused to fight because she believes that true strength does not lie in killing each other but in defending allies', he took a sip from his drink heightening the tension as I was listening breathlessly to his story. 'And for that' he continued, 'she was sentenced to death by the High Council, he paused for a moment, you know the rest Leona'. I sensed a certain fear in her eyes as she spoke: 'I was led to the summit of Targon, chained and guarded, once I arrived there I desperately looked to the sky, as one wanted to execute me, everything turned white, I thought I was dead but when I opened my eyes everyone around me was'. Her face became more relaxed now, 'after that the Solari claimed me as one of their sun-warriors they gave me this armour and taught me how to use my abilities'. 'And when did this actually happen?' I wondered. 'Yesterday', was her answer. 'How can you be so calm under it?' I asked, 'you are lucky to be alive and you look as if you couldn't care less'. 'We were raised that way, to be tough, I do realise I have been lucky so I put my full dedication into whatever saved me'. Suddenly it became clear to me what the blaze of light was Uzug and I saw coming from Targon. I told her we saw what happened here from the border of the Eversong woods. She laughed a bit. 'Why are you here anyway?' she asked. We are here to ensure the aid of the Solari in defence of Eversong; the humans of Stormwind are preparing an imminent invasion. 'Uhm', she started, as the smile ran away from her face, 'knowing the Solari elders, they will not permit us to help you, they are the most stubborn people I know, I do not know whether they will help you'. Uzug smashed his fist on the table, scaring us all, 'They will help, damn it'. The rage in his eyes was readable, but it wouldn't be helpful in my opinion. Through his words I saw black smoke rising from behind Pantheon's back, Leona noticed me noticing it, and turned around. 'Pantheon', she started. Pantheon turned around and jumped out of his chair 'my cake!' he exclaimed. He sprinted down the basement. The sound of clattering metal rose up from it. 'Have I told you Panth is a great baker?' Leona asked rhetorically. 'If it wasn't for the face that he is a soldier he would have been a baker for sure'. Pantheon climbed the stairs holding a really good-looking cake in his oven glove covered hands. 'Don't you even think about it missy', he said to Leona as he put the cake in front of us. Leona whispered that she was his greatest fan when it came to his baking arts. 'Not so visible', I responded. She gave a small laugh as Pantheon re-entered the room carrying some dishes, forks and a knife. He sliced four pieces off the cake. Leona didn't exaggerate a single word; this piece of food was heavenly. Even Uzug the great cook, was surprised. 'You know, I said, breaking the silence 'you and Uzug would form a great match, you both can really pull it off when it comes to preparing food'. 'Well then, maybe we will make something together someday', pantheon said winking at Uzug. 'Actually, I have some fish leftovers in my bag', Uzug said, 'from yesterday, you should try it'. 'Alright', I said, 'how long is it before we can reach the Solari?' I asked Leona. 'I'd advise you to stay the night here and move with us to the summit tomorrow as I am known there'.


	3. Chapter 3

So we decided to stay. Leona led me around the Rakkor village. Pantheon and Uzug were taking care of tonight's meal. I couldn't wait to see what they were capable of. She led me to the blacksmith and the training fields where some people trained all day long, not entirely free of harm. After observing the last warriors leaving the fields, the skies started to turn dark blue so we went back to Pantheon's house. We were met by a great smell when we entered. After being subject of Uzug and Pantheon's strength combined we decided it was time to sleep. After a quiet night in the bruising town we decided it was time to move to Targon's summit where the Solari resided. I was quite sure of our mission since we had a member of the Solari with us. I wondered how they would receive us since Thrall mentioned that the Solari do not interact much with strangers. A clear path led us the way which made walking a lot easier. An hour or two after departing we reached an outpost where we met Shen, he had reported to the High Council already and they were awaiting our arrival. We reached an enormous building which was used to support the Solari Leona mentioned. It was made up of smaller buildings and a square-shaped patio. We followed the path in the patio as I looked to the three floor high buildings around it, each with a sun emblem above the door of the balcony. We came to a building at the other side of the patio which was guarded by two men. They stepped aside as they knew who were coming. We entered a room which seemed to be the core of the building; rich decorations on either side of the room were telling me some of the Solari's history. This place was filled of light and radiated a calm ambience all over the room the only thing that made me feel uncomfortable were the three men in the far end of the room behind a desk'. 'Uncomfortable is lightly expressed' I answered in my head to my own quote. The corridor seemed to be endless, slowly but surely we moved to the ''High Council''. The man in the middle stood up as the right one took a pen and a paper scroll. 'We heard you were sent by Thrall, for that you were allowed to enter our sacred city, he has earned his respect but you', he paused for a moment 'you are not worth our time, Thrall should have come himself, speak quickly, we have more matters to attend to', he sat down; his voice was heavy and inconsiderate. 'We were indeed sent by Thrall, he has sent me and my friend Uzug to request your aid to defend the Eversong woods against a human invasion, the humans of Stormwind to be specific. 'Your own people were unable to stop them?' he asked raising his brows. 'They aren't there, not yet, but we have decrypted a code message a group of scouts lost, telling us of it'. The right man wrote down what was said, the left and middle one whispered some. Finally they seemed to have an answer. The middle one stood up again and spoke: 'We cannot help you, we don't know if the humans will invade for sure, and we have our own troubles, now, off with you'. I did not know what happened in that hall but suddenly I seemed to have nothing more to live for. I walked away leaving the others behind, I hated this place. I sat down on a bench in the patio. I didn't pay attention to what was happening around me. It was until Leona put her arm around my shoulders that I came back to reality. 'I will help you', she whispered, 'and I am sure Pantheon will follow me'. 'It won't matter', I said 'we can't stop the humans with just four people, why do you care so much about my homeland anyway?' She seemed to search for the right words and said that she was planning to move to Eversong, together with Pantheon but he didn't know it yet. 'Please do not tell him, I want it to be a surprise'. I let out a smile; it was nice to hear that someone actually cared about Eversong. 'I also want to show my loyalty to Thrall; I have heard stories about him, I would be glad to help him'. 'What do we do now?' I asked. 'We can go north, to icy land of Freljord and ask for reinforcements of the barbarian tribes, I know their leaders well, and they will come to our help'. I felt renewed hope after hearing this and I was eager to leave, 'what are we waiting for then? Let's go', I let out. 'Relax', Leona calmed me down, 'we have to make preparations first, the journey is cold'. Pantheon and Uzug appeared, 'we couldn't change their minds', Uzug spoke. 'Nothing can', Leona answered, 'they are just selfish and will not help others, we will seek our salvation in the regions of Freljord. 'You mean..?' Pantheon started. 'Yes', was her answer. Pantheon gave a smile, 'smart choice'. We decided to go to Pantheon's house and prepare for our depart tomorrow. I followed the sun going from its highest point in the sky to the horizon as we were coming down the mountain, ultimately finding it emitting an orange glow over the world as we reached the small Rakkor village. On our way to Pantheon's house Uzug decided to make dinner for us together with Pantheon and requested us not to enter until they were finished. This was a nice opportunity for me to ask about the place we would be going. 'Well', she said, as she sat down the grass in front of the curtain-covered window of Pantheon's house, 'the place itself is an oasis in the snow, there's not so much to tell about it, but the people there are barbarians united by one king, who is really nice, and their queen is a really good friend of mine'. 'Seems great to have friends at high places', I said. 'It doesn't really matter', Leona answered, 'I have known their queen, Ashe, for a long time, even before she got that title, and it doesn't affect her, fortunately'. 'That reaction didn't quite cover up my question', I said. 'Some people think they are on top of the world when given power', Leona responded. I thought of the so called ''High Council''. 'Ashe isn't such a person, she remains loyal to a friend, which is something that actually matters about the place we will be going, the people', she finished. I agreed. I was suddenly pulled out of my own thoughts when I saw a wolf approaching. For some reason it calmed me down. Instead of awakening my senses to grab my bow I calmly let it come to us. Once it was closer I could see that this was no ordinary beast, instead, this one had a white, ghostly pelt and radiated a soft glow. Its body suddenly took on other forms, hands, arms and legs formed, the shape of an Orc appeared, an old Orc, 'Thrall!' I yelled. I had many things to tell him but as I gasped for air he calmed me down. 'I am aware of what happened here', he said in an easy voice, 'I am just as deceived as you are, I wouldn't have sent you if I weren't sure that they would help you'. Leona seemed quite surprised after seeing this little magic trick. 'And you, Leona, thank you'. 'I... How do you know my name?' was all she could bring out, clearly astonished. 'I know many things', was Thrall's answer. 'I will assist you from here to ensure that things like this will not happen again, but for now, go inside and take your rest for tomorrow a new task awaits, I believe your friends just finished, may the spirits watch over you'. Leona and I stood up and waved after the wolf disappearing in the distance. 'So this is the great shaman Thrall, I wonder what he is capable of, he is quite powerful according to the stories', Leona said. I told her we would know soon enough. Uzug opened the door and gestured us to come in. They had already prepared sheets next to Pantheon's bed for the night. The table was made up nicely and ready for us to join.

After my morning rituals and a good breakfast we were disturbed by a knocking on the door while packing. Pantheon stood eye to eye with Thrall when he opened. I had told Pantheon what had happened yesterday already and he let him in without hesitation. He only had to introduce himself to Pantheon and sat down on the bed. Thrall told us that the humans of Stormwind would be delayed due to a sudden storm in their harbour, 'actually it isn't so sudden' he said, 'I caused the storm myself', he laughed a bit, 'it drains a great deal of my power but their repairing and additional preparations should delay them long enough for us to get out defences ready'. He also told us that what I already knew but of which Pantheon and Uzug were unaware. For some reason they had not even asked either of us where we would be going, Freljord. 'The frost archer and the barbarian king will help us for sure', he said, finishing. 'Where have I heard that before', I thought. Leona, mind-reading as she was, reassured me once again. We continued packing as Thrall gave some more information to Pantheon and Leona. Once we were finished, we immediately left, not wanting to waste a minute. We had told no one what we were going to do and where we would go, so the inhabitants of the Rakkor village seemed quite surprised when one of their strongest warriors ran off with three complete strangers. Thrall led the way, we would have to rely on his sense of direction, I didn't doubt a second about that after he had even found us at the other side of the wastelands. Hours went by, and at some point the temperature had dropped to a point at which we put some extra clothes on. Leona, however, seemed unaffected by the cold. Thrall, in his wolf form had a thick layer of fur keeping him warm, but for Leona I could not say what was going on, it probably had to do with her commitment to the Solari. We let the grasslands behind us and entered the first snow plains heralding the border of Freljord. Ice, Ice and yet more ice was the only thing we could see. 'We will have to enter that mountain pass', Leona said, she pointed her sword to two mountains, which both closed a razor-edge in the distance. I didn't quite fancy this place, not at all, it was cold and darkness was falling in, blurring our sight. I accelerated my steps and whispered to Thrall who was walking a few yards in front of us: 'do you know a place where we can spend the night?', 'not yet', he answered. He took on the farm of a hawk in the blink of an eye 'I soon will', he said, and flew away. 'What is he going to do?' Uzug asked me. 'Find us some shelter', I replied, 'I'm getting tired'. Pantheon, not so known in the ways of magic, watched him fly away with his mouth open. All he could say was, well, not a word was heard from him. We followed the direction in Thrall went off and he soon returned. He landed in front of us and said that he had found a cave not too far away from here as he shifted back into a wolf. My vision on the mountain pass became really unclear now due to the sun setting and an upcoming mist. 'Well, where is that cave?' I asked Thrall, not seeing any possibility for a cave on this glacier. 'Right here, young one', he answered, and suddenly disappeared. I took a few steps to the place he had gone and found out there was a hole in the ground in which he must have descended. I followed him. This place was an underground hollow, filled with unnatural warmth. It seemed to be formerly occupied by some animal; there was a layer of twigs in the one side of the room. I took my extra clothes off, since it was warm enough here. I asked Leona how one could or would make one's home here. 'You see', she started, 'The people I told you about make their home in a valley, sheltered from the cold. I yet had to see that, it seemed quite unrealistic that there would be places here sheltered from these harsh colds. 'Enough talking already', Uzug's voice echoed in the cavern 'let's eat!' 'Agreed!' Pantheon insisted. After finishing our last reserves it was completely black outside. The temperature inside the cave seemed to stay at the same level. Leona's magic was now clearly visible; she put the cavern in an enchanting, bright light. 'We must reach Ashe and Tryndamere tomorrow', Pantheon said. 'Of course, we have no food left', I thought chuckling. 'We will', I answered. The thing that I could not have known by then was that that tomorrow would be covered in a raging blizzard. We proceeded to the mountain pass, slowly, but steadily. The pass neared. And after what seemed to be ages, the blizzard calmed down as well. We could see clearly now. The sudden tranquillity was just as suddenly disturbed as it had come. Yelling was heard from behind. 'Humans!' I exclaimed. 'Stormwind humans', Uzug added. Uzug was right; they carried the Stormwind emblem on their shields. 'And it seems they are in for a fight', Pantheon finished. 'It's about time', Uzug said 'I haven't had a good fight in months'. I usually hate resorting to violence but I was surrounded by it this time and there was no escape. We were outnumbered by a dozen to five but the presence of Thrall seemed to stimulate all of us. I grabbed my bow, pulled the string and fired a shot, miss. The second arrow had more success; one of the Humans grabbed at his chest and fell to the ground. Leona responded to this by raising her sword to the sky. Seconds later a beam of light descended upon the group of Humans, leaving them disorientated. Uzug and Pantheon rushed in dealing massive blows with spear and mace. Thrall shifted to his human form; now appearing with a giant mace instead of his great staff, he threw this into the blinded group of Humans, striking one down. Thrall called forth an earthquake, rooting the Humans in place; it didn't seem to affect Uzug and Pantheon though. The strange thing is that whenever I felt my arrows come to close near either of them they seemed to change directions. After a short but crushing fight, the Humans, of which only two survived routed. 'Let them!' I yelled to Uzug and Pantheon, they were already chasing them down. They quit the chase disappointedly. 'That will keep them from ambushing us again. This had been my first encounter with the Humans of Stormwind which ended in conflict. I don't like the Humans that much; they had oppressed the Elves for centuries and treated them like dirt, so we joined the Orcs who were sworn enemies of them. Thrall told me that he had once fought alongside the Humans against the Demons of Outland, a common enemy, but after their victory, and the disappearing of the Burning Legion of Demons the Humans lost their trust in a bond. They started attacking Orc villages in a quest for power. Thrall was the one that rallied the clans and led the defence, with success. He founded their Capital City of Orgrimmar. And now he was with us, fighting the Humans of Stormwind once again.


	4. Chapter 4

We reached the mountain pass and could already look into the valley beyond it. There was a camp located in it and there was no snow! I heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of green grass and soil. When we exited the pass the temperature suddenly went up. We took off our extra clothes again and neared the camp. We did not go unnoticed for long; we were met by four barbarians as you would expect them to look; muscled, leather clothing and huge weapons. Thrall did the explanation this time. We were led by the barbarians to the biggest tent in the compound. One of the guards opened the tent and let us in. There was a long black haired muscled man sitting at a desk, writing some things on a piece of paper, and a bright yellow haired woman with skin as light as snow lying on a bed staring at the ceiling. She turned her head as we came in, the man continued writing. 'Leona, Pantheon! What are you doing here, and who have you brought to Freljord?' she asked. Pantheon introduced Uzug and me as Tryndamere finally took the effort to put aside whatever he was doing. 'Pantheon, buddy, it is good to see you again', he hugged Pantheon. Thrall interrupted them going straight to the problem. After a long explanation Tryndamere seemed to boil of anger, 'dam nit', he said, calmly but rough. 'They give their race a bad name, I'm glad we sought our own destination and split from them, I wouldn't want to still be with them. 'Anything I can do to bother the Humans of Stormwind will be done, Ashe let's join them'. Leona grabbed me by the shoulder and winked, 'you see?' she whispered. I didn't say a word. After having had something to eat and to drink I asked Ashe if she could train me in archery. At that Ashe blushed a bit and told me she could. She asked me if I wanted to get started right now, 'yes' I had answered, insisting. So she led me to the training grounds of the camp leaving the others behind. 'They would find something to do', I thought, soothing my mind. Some barbarians were training just as in the Rakkor village. Ashe and I went to a reclusive area where we would be the only ones practising. I asked her to show me some skills, 'right', she answered. She took on her blue crystal bow from her back and an arrow. Her long white hair waved as she fully concentrated on her target. She released and hit the target right in the centre from a distance of about fifty metres. 'Amazing', I said. I wanted to try my luck as well but with my simple wooden bow I couldn't even get near the target. 'Hmm, you will need some training I see', Ashe said with a grin, 'and certainly a better bow'. 'Could I try yours then?' I asked. 'No way', was her answer, 'this bow is part of my life, it's an heirloom. 'Just one shot then?' I tried. After some hesitation Ashe allowed me to fire a shot, 'be careful, please'. This bow was a well-shaped piece of craftsmanship, just holding it felt great. I asked for one of her arrows as well. 'Just don't lose it', she said as she gave me one. I concentrated and released, this time I actually hit the target, not even near the centre but it was a hit. Ashe smiled, 'good start, practice some more, I'll go to our blacksmith and ask him to make him a high quality bow and some arrows. After a lot of shots and retrieving my arrows again from the grass beyond the target I was losing my focus. Looking at my own achievements I was quite happy that I managed to get some arrows on the target, there was even one lucky shot next to the centre. I put my bow away and walked back to the main tent. Once I arrived there only Pantheon and Tryndamere were there drinking some kind of liquor. I asked where the others were. 'They should be somewhere in the compound', Pantheon said, taking another sip of his drink. It smelt like his home made brew. 'Where can I find the blacksmith', I suddenly asked, hoping that Ashe would still be there. 'Leave the tent and keep walking to the right until you see a tent with an anvil in front of it', Tryndamere answered. Before he had finished his sentence I had already left, the anvil part was quite unnecessary. It didn't take long for me to see a man crafting a crystal bow with Ashe sitting next to him with her own bow as an example. 'How's it going here', I asked. Ashe turned around and motioned me to sit down, 'have a look yourself'. I sat down and watched the bow taking shape. 'This is pretty hard', the blacksmith said, looking at Ashe's bow and back at the one in his hands, his forehead was covered in sweat, 'this material is far tougher than iron'. 'I won't be able to decorate this one with gems like Ashe's bow' he said, 'simply because I do not have them'. I looked at Ashe's bow, at the gems reflecting the sunlight. It was a shame that mine wouldn't be as beautiful but that is not the main purpose of a bow. 'It is done', he said as he removed the last impurities with a piece of sandpaper, 'the only thing I need now is a sinew'. 'I have those', Ashe responded, pulling a string out of her pocket, 'this will do, I always have some spare ones with me, just in case'. Ashe took the newly-formed bow and attached the string, adjusting it sometimes to make sure it would be at its best. 'Do you make arrows too?' I asked the smith while Ashe was occupied with the bow. 'Sure, no problem'. This question seemed pretty stupid in itself looking at the man's muscles and all the equipment he had made already which was all over the place and even stored in his tent behind him. Ashe was finally finished and asked me to come back to her tent where the others would be waiting for us. 'Hah', I said, 'if you mean drinking by saying waiting they are, or at least your husband and Pantheon are'. 'What?' she exclaimed. She took a quick pace and ran back to the main tent, I followed her only to find out that there was a party prepared for us outside the tent. Two benches were placed next to a fire on which the rest of the group was sitting.

'We were preparing to skewer chicken', Uzug said, we were just waiting for you, it'd be rude to start without my best friend'. I was flattered, and I was hungry so I sat down unhesitatingly. Tryndamere took three chickens from a crate, featherless and ready to be prepared. I saw Uzug with that look in his eyes as if he was already enchanting the meat with his cooking skills. Instead, Tryndamere impaled them and put them over the fire on the horizontal sticks. Uzug stumbled, 'aren't you going to do anything with that?' 'Why?' Tryndamere replied, 'it's perfect'. Tryndamere stood up, leaving me in laughter on the inside and went into the tent without saying a word. 'What is he going to do?' I asked. 'He will get us some bottles of Pantheon's fine liquor', Leona said, 'he brought some with him'. 'There won't be so much left of it I guess', I muttered. 'What do you mean?' Pantheon suddenly asked. 'Well, I guess you've already had your share this afternoon with Tryndamere. 'No way he said, that was Tryndamere's own creation, I'm trying to teach him but he still can't get close to me', he laughed. Tryndamere returned with two bottles of Pantheons brew which I could recognize from the labels. We talked about daily things and about what we ought to do. I let the fire that was slowly roasting the chicken warm my skin as well and watched the sparks rising to the colour-shifting sky, darkness was falling in, but it all added to the cosy feeling. I watched the wood turn to coal and found out that it was time to add some more. To kill the time I asked Ashe about her story. 'What do you mean', was her answer. 'Well, you know, how did you meet Trynda?' I asked. 'Oh, that story'. 'Well', she started, 'you can say it was either luck or accident. I was hunting with my hawk on the snow plains when it suddenly started to scream and fly away, I followed it and found Trynda lying in the snow, I took him to this oasis and took care of him', she paused for a bit 'and later I found out that he was the king of the nearby barbarian encampment'. 'Hmm, love at first sight? I teased her. 'No way', Ashe said. 'Oh yes Tryndamere answered, laughing in his heavy voiced manner, 'you just couldn't resist this bunch of muscles'. 'Anyways', Ashe continued, after he got his cautiousness back he started questioning me, who are you? Where is my tribe?' 'Don't you deny you felt something for me as soon as I woke up', Tryndamere interrupted again. 'Ok so maybe a little bit', Ashe replied, mostly to keep him quiet I guess. 'I had no fixed home and resided in this oasis mostly, I offered Tryndamere to stay here with me', she continued. 'But how did he end up there in the snow in the first place?' I asked. Ashe laughed, 'Ironically enough, he was looking for a new place for his people to establish a camp as they were running out of resources. 'Quite obvious that there won't be many out there in the snow', I said. 'Tryndamere insisted immediately' Ashe went on, 'so instead of getting one barbarian I got a thousand here now'. 'Little Trynda underestimated the cold', she teased Tryndamere after finishing her story. 'You are lucky that I am so tough after all, to survive in the snow for hours, otherwise you wouldn't have had a husband right now', Tryndamere counter-teased. 'Dinner's done!' Uzug suddenly yelled. It seemed that this storytelling had actually killed the time, it sure felt that way. Uzug entered his greedy mode after he yelled out and wanted to grab the pin with his bare hands, not such a good idea, the six of us saw it coming but despite of that he burnt his fingers. By the look in his eyes I could sense that he would be glad to be out there in the snow again. He ran off to a well to cool his fingers in the water. When he came back Uzug grabbed two oven gloves from his bag and gave a triumphant laugh to Uzug, 'here, use these'. I looked at Pantheon and stumbled, 'Do  
you really take those with you wherever you go?' 'Yes', he had answered shortly in a serious manner. This was the laughing trigger for Leona. Uzug, well-raised as he was asked Tryndamere where the dishes and cutlery were. Tryndamere's face became open-eyed and he laughed, 'did you honestly think that we would use any of those unnecessary attributes for an occasion like this?' Uzug became more and more of a foreigner in these eating habits, he seemed so confused. However, no matter how confused he was he would never lose his appetite, this became clear when he had a chicken leg in his hand, eating it to the bone. After a while, three chickens later to be exact, we were satiated. Thrall the ever-quiet person had had the most. We grabbed the bottles which Tryndamere had brought earlier, poured in and cheered. 'Ahh!' Pantheon exclaimed after taking a sip, 'Like home on Targon, now that is how you make liquor', he teased Tryndamere, he didn't respond much. Pantheon struck me with his words, I didn't have much time to think about home, I was enjoying my time here, but now he made me, I quite missed it, but the painful paradox was that once I would be home I would miss this place for sure. With a full stomach and confused heart Ashe directed us to our sleeping place for the night. We, Leona and I, would take our stay in an unoccupied tent in the centre of the camp, close to Ashe's. Pantheon and Uzug would be in a tent next to us and Thrall would be in a tent next to that one. A stack of sheets and pillows was in the tent, waiting to be used. A small oil lamp or whatever it was using as fuel was placed carefully at the side of the tent. I threw off all unnecessary clothes and dived into the pillar of softness. I enveloped myself as I thought about how well Ashe was treating visitors up here. Leona wished me goodnight. 'Goodnight', I said, turning the oil lamp off.


	5. Chapter 5

The following day started well; we had a great breakfast prepared by both Uzug and Pantheon and Ashe and Tryndamere were making preparations for our leave, instructing the camp what would happen for instance. As we were breaking down the tents and packing whatever we would need for our new journey Tryndamere suddenly looked around as if he had sensed something. I looked at him and wondered what was going on. I would find out as seconds later he yelled in a voice that carried all over the camp, 'Arm yourselves!' Tryndamere's rallying cry seemed to have huge impact; everyone stopped with what they were doing in an instant and reached to whatever could be used as weapons, some found actual material fit for combat, others weren't as lucky and grabbed rocks. Before I knew what had happened in those seconds, I found myself surrounded by battle again, dozens of armed men stormed at our group. I sighed and reached for my new bow. Pantheon seemed quite annoyed, 'damn them, they picked the exact right time'. He, Leona and Uzug charged into the vanguard. Thrall called upon his shamanistic powers and summoned balls of lightning to cast upon the invaders. Here I first met the powers Thrall told I had within me; some of my arrows went straight through the barbarians without leaving any trace of injury and struck down the attackers behind them. Ashe saw this and looked at me with confusion, 'could you explain you how you do that?' 'I cannot explain', I answered, I was just as confused as she was, 'I don't even know how I do it myself'. Moments later it seemed that I had carried over this ability to Ashe, she totally missed a shot and instead of killing one of her own people, the same that happened to me happened to her. 'Well, crap', she said, 'this is weird'. 'How about some rapid fire', I asked, 'we have no need to aim'. 'Bright remark', she answered. Meanwhile I heard Tryndamere yell from all over the field, I turned around only to see him take down four invaders on his own, which really impressed me. A certain kind of joy had overcome me when I saw the attackers running; they clearly hadn't expected a resistance like this from a camp that was preparing to travel. I was weary and sat down. Tryndamere walked to us, took ashes shoulders between his hands and kissed her. Ashe blushed, 'did you have to do that in front of everybody?' 'Yes', he said. Uzug appeared and said, 'you know what? I really like this guy'. 'Who?' I asked. 'Tryndamere of course'. Pantheon and Leona also appeared, Pantheon seemed to have enjoyed himself, I wish I could say the same of me. The blaze of glory quickly made place for reconsidering. Instead of taking our leave we now had to tend to the wounded. The number of casualties was low but there was a lot of triage to do if the small amount of wounded was to come out of this without lasting incapabilities. Not that I was encouraged to bind together bloody wounds but I seemed to find peace in helping these people, so I helped them. Ashe helped me using several new techniques of which I had not known until then. It was quite nice to work with her. We spent the rest of the morning healing. Early afternoon we were called to attend a ceremony in respect of the dead. Their bodies were laid on piles of wood and then ignited after Tryndamere had spoken out words in a foreign language, a last honour. The ambience was filled with sadness, we might have prevailed but at what cost? I went to my tent which was rebuilt quickly after the news came out that we wouldn't be going anywhere soon, and fell into the sheets, wanting to clean my mind, which didn't seem to work anyway. The only thing that I could make up from this was that these people, unlike the story told barbarians do really care about each other. I lay there for some time contemplating when I heard Ashe's voice right from behind me, 'Are you okay?' 'I'm fine', I said. 'Who were they?' I asked her quickly. She sat down next to me, 'Noxian assassins', she spoke, resenting at the word. 'And why do they attack your camp?' I then asked. 'I do not know', she sighed, 'They are at war with Demacia but they attack anything if they will grow better of it'. 'They quite failed this time then', I said. 'They do that a lot, but their numbers are endless and their leaders are malevolent, they will behead anyone who didn't reach their standards to maintain discipline'. I don't quite know what happened after that conversation but the first thing I had come to see was Thrall's face. 'What happened?' I asked. 'You fainted', he answered, putting his hand on my forehead, the cold feeling of it streamed through my entire body. 'You are warm', he spoke calmly. Of course I was, I was getting sick, sick of this bloody mess, and the worst part was yet to come. I didn't tell him this of course but he seemed to read it in my eyes; he left the tent saying that he and the others would take care of further treatment for the wounded, as I would need my rest. I didn't feel much like remaining idle and let others do what I could do as well, but I also knew that I wouldn't be of any value if I was to get worse, so I reluctantly decided to stay here. Once I mustered the strength to look outside the camp seemed empty I wondered where everyone had gone and went to Ashe's tent, expecting the others to be there. I was right. 'Where's everyone?' I asked. Tryndamere answered me that they were praying in their tents to ensure that their friends would find a way to the afterlife; it was an old tradition in his tribe. 'And what are we supposed to do?' I then asked. 'You will go to Dalaran and find out about your bloodline'. 'And the others?' I asked, not willing to leave anyone behind. 'Ashe and Leona will come with you, there will surely be someone there who can train them too'. 'And Uzug and Pantheon?' I asked specifically for them because I knew that it was Tryndamere's responsibility to stay here with his people. 'They will stay here and focus on the opposite of magic', it seemed Thrall had already discussed the whole plan with the rest since no one seemed to hesitate. 'How about yourself then?' 'I will see to it that the humans will be further delayed', Thrall answered, I nodded. 'My hawk will allow me to communicate with them', Ashe tried to soothe me. 'Your hawk?' Ashe whistled and moments later a snow-white hawk entered the tent and carefully landed on her hand. She took some breadcrumbs from her pocket and fed the animal, which cawed, seemingly in joy. 'How do you think I found Tryndamere?' she winked. We took our bags which were already prepared and wished goodbye, wanting to move as quickly as possible. We exited the tent, the camp was still empty, it would be better that no one knew that we were leaving I thought. We waved to our friends and set off to the mage-city of Dalaran, of which I had only heard in stories, southeast of Freljord. Dalaran is said to attract the most powerful of mages of the world to study. Soon Leona, Ashe and I reached the border of the oasis and we were surrounded by snow and icy plains again. We put on our extra clothes and kept walking relying on a compass Ashe had brought with her. I longed for the warmth of the oasis within the mountains. We were lucky that it wasn't snowing; I wouldn't want to right getting frostbite or something similar. Despite the agreeable weather that day was the hardest; there was nothing to be seen but snowy plains. The joy was great when the endless white glaciers started making place for the least of vegetation. After a long silence Ashe started to speak, 'We have had the worst part now the only thing that can happen to us now is running out of supplies but we will be able to replenish them soon. 'How' I asked. 'There are plenty of edible plants and berries there, we might even be lucky to catch some animal, I do hope you like boar meat', she said, 'It will do', I answered. The trip seemed to proceed quickly as at the start of the evening we reached a border where grass was growing again, I even heard a river flowing at the other side of the hills. Notable was the great amount of trees that grew here but they weren't close enough to each other to form an actual forest. I was on the lookout for supplies when Ashe said, 'If you hear any trace of a river let me know'. 'Couldn't you say that earlier?' I asked, 'I've been hearing a river for the past five minutes'. 'Where does it come from then?' she asked me, thinking that I was bluffing I guess, 'This way'. I guided Ashe and Leona, who weren't as gifted with ears like mine, over a hill and found a river streaming from the direction of Freljord. 'How did you know?' Leona wondered. I pointed to my long, pointy ears, making her laugh but understand it. 'Right', Ashe said, 'We will just have to follow it to reach Dalaran. She seemed to be well informed by Thrall. Once we arrived at the river I started to drink its water, it was clean and started refilling our bottles when I heard this sound come from behind me, 'Well, well, well if it aren't three ladies waiting to be robbed', it was a heavy muscular voice, I turned around and looked right over the blunt side of a long knife into a mask-covered face. I started to panic but the thought that panic may cost me my life calmed me down. I saw Leona reaching for her shield in the corner of my vision; she was no match, however for the scoundrel's crew lightning fast reflexes before she knew she had a knife to her throat. In anger I muttered 'if only we'd seen you coming', to the rogue in front of me. 'What did you say missy?' he said, lowering his blade an inch too far. I saw my chance and grabbed it; I fiercely threw away his blade and kicked him in the stomach, causing him to reel in pain. That action had also cost me a cut in my own arm, leaving it covered in blood, I, however didn't feel a thing. The five man crew of this unknown man lost its focus when I burst out. Leona grabbed her shield and jumped in front of Ashe letting her shield emit a bright glow blinding the scoundrels and blocking any attacks with all her might. I, on my turn grabbed my bow and shot them down one by one. After the short but heavy encounter I sat down and took a closer look at my bleeding, it seemed to be a deep cut but I couldn't understand why it wouldn't hurt. Ashe took some bandages from her back and bound my would together, 'thanks', I said. Leona quietly waked the in the meanwhile passed-out leader of the group and took his knife, 'he won't hurt anyone anymore', she said. I offered to take him with us to Dalaran and see that he would be condemned. They both agreed. We decided to spend the night here as dusk had already arrived. We made a campfire and Leona and I would try to find some food as Ashe would guard the thief and keep the fire burning. We searched through a denser part with more trees and collided with an unfortunate boar. We even fetched some firewood which was easily found around here, we thought it would be a nice addition. Then we decided to go back, Ashe was already waiting for us, she had caught some fish herself and had tied the rogue, who was still unconscious in rope which she always had in her bag, quite convenient for situations like this and many other. After eating we decided to go to sleep already, we wanted to reach Dalaran as quickly as possible and we couldn't move on any farther today after all. I would have first guard, not just for the prisoner we had with us, but for who knows what other creatures might lurk around here at night. I sat there for some hours trying to keep my eyes on the surroundings and watching Ashe and Leona sleep tightly. Our prisoner had some moments where he woke up but he remained quiet then as I had my bow ready. After those quiet hours I decided it was time to wake up Ashe. It took quite some effort to get her out of her sleep, 'hmm?' she whispered. 'Your turn', I whispered back, shaking her, 'So soon?' 'Yes', I responded. She took her bow and sat down next to the fire pinching in the fire with an arrow. I grinned quietly, took my sheets from my bag and lay down.


	6. Chapter 6

The next moment I felt a shadow fall over my eyes, it was Leona's head blocking the sun, she stood over me and asked if I had slept well. 'No', I replied, 'what time is it?' 'Time to get up', she said, not knowing what I was feeling it seemed. I tried to find my cautiousness and my strength to get up. Leona meanwhile tried to wake up Ashe who didn't seem to be in any better mood than me. I tried to sit but fell back to the ground. 'What's with you?' Leona asked. 'Nothing I said, just a little dizzy'. I tried to get up but was chained to the ground, I could not get up. 'Damn', I let out, 'seems you will have to carry me as I cannot stand on my own legs'. 'What's the matter?' Leona asked. 'My legs are numb', I said looking up to Ashe and Leona. 'Then we will carry you and find a remedy in Dalaran', Ashe said. 'Are you sure you can handle this?' I asked, feeling guilty. 'A lightweight like you won't cause any problems', she laughed, 'this prisoner of ours is the hardest part'. Leona and Ashe both put their shoulders under my arms and carried me. We moved slowly alongside the river, the rogue still wrapped in rope walking behind us, quietly, the first towers of Dalaran had been visible the entire morning already but the distance was still great, and it wouldn't move that fast if I were to be carried. I meanwhile wondered what the matter with me was. Was it something I ate? Couldn't be, Ashe and Leona ate the same things and weren't affected even a bit. After a while of thinking I came to the realization that my carriers were quite overextending. 'Take it easy and have a rest', I said. They lay me down, and gave me some water as I couldn't even reach out my arm anymore. I sincerely hoped that there would be someone in Dalaran who could help me. We moved on after a little break. Ashe said that we would be in Dalaran soon. At the end of the morning we reached Dalaran, the mage-city. It was a small city with the only purpose of providing a place for mages to study. Most of them lives in nearby towns like Tarren Mill, only few of them had the right to remain in the city at night I had heard. We were met by a red robed long-haired mage as we walked through the streets of the small city. It must have been a strange sight for him. We were after all, three outsiders of which ne was unable to walk and a man on a leash. It was evident that we would not go unnoticed. 'Hello', he greeted us, Korialstrasz is the name, I see that you can use some help, can't you?' I calmly said that for some reason my legs and arms were numb and that the man we had caught was a villain and that I would gladly accept any help I could get. 'Guards!' he then yelled, in no time there were two armoured men next to him, he asked to take the man to the tribunal. 'I might have a solution for you', he said, after the scoundrel was taken away, 'if you will follow me, what's the name by the way?' 'Faragi', I said, 'and Leona and Ashe, but something tells me that you already knew that'. 'How did you know that I would know your name?' he asked, turning around. 'Just guessing', I said. He laughed, 'Then you have already guessed that I know that we both know that you are not only here for your immobility problem, is that right?' Leona seemed confused, Ashe giggled at her, 'mages', she said. I already started to like this guy for his sense of humour. He stopped at the door of one of the less high but bigger in diameter size, pulling out a key ring and when he got the right one, he opened the door. I didn't expect mages in Dalaran to still use primitive things like keys and it seemed quite funny. 'Mages', I thought in the way Ashe had said it earlier. We went in a dark room, with a few gestures of his hands Korialstrasz summoned a strange yellow glow to illuminate the room. When the room was no longer dark I saw what I had expected to find in a sorcerer's room; shelves fixed on the walls filled with pots and vials filled with all kinds of stuff, strange liquids, glowing and bubbling and powders and pieces of paper seemingly dating back to ages ago, compiled of magic spells, all around. Korialstrasz reached out for some of those vials and started turning pages in a dusty old book. When he seemed to have found the right page he grabbed a vial, checked the label and poured it into a drinking glass, filled it with a colourless liquid and added a green powder, a sparkling effect was the result. After the fizzing he added water to fill the remainder of the glass. 'Drink this', he said, after the reaction was over. Ashe lifted my head as Korialstrasz let me drink it. I must say that this strange brew didn't even taste bad; in fact it was quite nice. 'Well', Ashe said, 'How do you feel', she expected this magical drink you give immediate effect and that I was to stand on my legs within an instant. This, however, wasn't the result. 'I can't feel a thing', I said to Ashe. 'Yet', Korialstrasz finished my sentence, 'just wait'. In due time I could indeed feel my arms and legs getting warm again. After I was able to stand again, still a bit dizzy I asked Korialstrasz whether he had any idea what that could have been. 'A spell', he spoke, slowly and very relaxed, maybe a bit too relaxed, 'Someone wanted to get you out of the way', he resumed, 'It would slowly consume you until you...' he stopped. I sighed. 'What if someone is to try that again?' I asked, in fear of it happening again. 'Here, take this', he handed me a small jar filled with the powder and a vial filled with the liquid he used before. 'You see how I did it before, try to use as much water as you can to dissolve the mixture in'. 'Alright', I said, feeling better now that I could defend myself against someone who was trying to use magic tricks on me. Suddenly a bird flew into the room through the opened door, it was Ashe's hawk. 'Snowy', she called out, smiling. 'Appropriate name', I said. Ashe took the piece of paper wrapped around its claw. Her beautiful smile disappeared as she was reading the note; I sensed something must have gone wrong. 'What's the matter Ashe?' Leona asked, she probably felt the same as me. Ashe closed her eyes and said that the encampment was attacked again by Noxus' soldiers. 'How are they?' I immediately asked. 'They're fine, for now...' she sighed deeply, 'this cannot go on forever'. 'Is it just me or is Noxus conspiring with Stormwind?' thought loudly. 'What do you mean?' Ashe and Leona asked in sync. 'Well, who else would benefit more from enemy reinforcements being crippled than Stormwind?' 'Could be', Ashe said, 'but as far as I know, Noxus would never help outsiders'. 'They might divide our grounds once conquered', I offered, 'but I don't see why the Humans of Stormwind would share'. 'Isn't it obvious?' Leona said, once they've taken your land, they will go and fight each other for it'. Korialstrasz suddenly broke the silence, 'seems plausible, what if I help them out?' 'You mean?' I started. 'I will go and help your friends in Freljord', he said, very determined, 'but first, I will introduce you to Rhonin, the arch-mage of Dalaran. We left the building and walked over the yellow stones of Dalaran's streets, until we came to a great building at a corner with a stairs leading the entrance. As we entered the doorway Korialstrasz asked us to wait. He went up the righter of the two stairs which were crescent shaped and parallel to each one in front of us. I took a look around me observing the inner of this building; it was entirely lit in a blue light due to the transparent curtains in front of the windows and the rugs on the floor. After a while of looking around Korialstrasz returned with a person who had to be Rhonin. He didn't seem to be as old as one would expect a mage to be, particularly if they bore the title of arch-mage,about a year of thirty he was quite young, he had a small brown beard and gentle looking eyes. 'Hello', he said as he had descended the stairs. 'You must be Faragi, Leona and Ashe', he shook our hands correspondingly is that order. 'I have heard about your problem and I am willing to help, you seek training don't you?' we hadn't talked about that with Korialstrasz yet and yet he knew, 'mages', I thought. 'But don't leak a word to the outside', he continued, 'we, mages, prefer to remain seen as neutral to the outside. I nodded in agreement. 'Well, I will take care of you three then, Korialstrasz will go to Freljord and help your friends out as he has discussed with you already'. Korialstrasz departed and we followed Rhonin to one of this building's chambers. We talked about the information we had gathered and we talked about our lodging, we would remain in this building as would Rhonin, he had a room prepared for us by some of his servants. He led us around the city and showed us some interesting facts, a bit of history and shops that could come in handy for any supplies we would need.  
At the end of afternoon he showed us where our training would take place, I was amazed how big this building was it seemed to have everything in it, we entered a great hall, completely empty. For now, had Rhonin mentioned. 'No one is studying today, but you will see it living tomorrow'. I was fortunate that Uzug had not come with me for at the evening, at dinner time Rhonin (he had invited us for it and had insisted that we would eat with him for our stay) filled the table with the most exotic kinds of food with a few moves of his hands. If Uzug saw this he would despair. I thought so but later I found out that he would laugh at these magic tricks because it didn't taste as good as his self-prepared dishes. It was not bad, not at all, but fact was that it wasn't as good as Uzug's. That night I went to bed early while Ashe and Leona were still doing things in town, I wanted to be fully rested and concentrated for my first training the next day, it would be a great deal if I hadn't taken this seriously.  
I was excited about my first training the next day and so seemed my two friends. Rhonin started with the words that everything we were capable of was already in us; we just had to find a way to get it out. This was true looking to the event with my arrows, having some magical guide, I just wasn't able to explain it until now. Korialstrasz explained that that had to do with willpower, the mage's strongest weapon and that that would be on which I had to focus, willpower. Ashe and Leona, already trained in some ways would have someone else to train them as they were focusing on different aspects like agility and reflexes, Leona however, also got part-time training from Rhonin, to develop her bounds to the sun. We all put full effort into this, knowing that we would need it, and that it could change the future for my homeland.


	7. Chapter 7

After a week or so, we decided that we would have to go, I had found myself able to almost fully control my will, I could make things happen of which I had never ever dared to dream if I focused enough. Ashe had set up a rendezvous with the rest of the group at the camp in Freljord using her hawk to communicate. Rhonin had said to us that he would have liked to come with us but that he was not allowed to; the High Seven of Dalaran, in which Korialstrasz has a place too, decided with majority not to interfere with any of the races. As we prepared our bags to move out again Rhonin came to us. 'I know you have to leave', he said, 'but couldn't you rely on me to fix your transportation?' 'What do you mean?' I asked, 'wait, do you mean?' I suddenly remembered that some mages were able of conjuring portals to cross large distances in the blink of an eye. 'Yep', he responded. Rhonin had created one in no time, a purple edged singularity of space and time through which we could see Ashe's base camp. 'Move quickly', Rhonin said, 'it won't hold on for long, and Korialstrasz has to get back through it. We waved goodbye and jumped through it. On the other side the others were already waiting for us, if you can call it waiting, maybe they were just curious what had just appeared in front of their eyes. Korialstrasz greeted us and wished goodbye right after that, 'we will meet again', he said, and he jumped with into the portal. After he had jumped into it the edges pulled together and it disappeared. I was glad to see my friends again; I hoped they spend their time useful as well. It was only a few seconds later that I noticed that Thrall wasn't with the rest. 'Where is Thrall?' I asked. 'He is in his tent', Uzug said, it took a great deal of his strength to delay the humans of Stormwind so long, he is exhausted'. I rushed to his tent to see him. When I got in he lay on his bed, still focusing his mind on something it seemed. I told him to stop whatever he was doing and to regain his strength; we had to move to Eversong as quickly as possible. He looked to me and nodded slowly. He seemed to regain his strength gradually over that day. Tryndamere told me that the Noxians were not going to attack anywhere soon since Korialstrasz had really scared the hell out of them with his magical powers. So we broke up the camp and prepared to move out. Thrall would no longer delay the Humans of Stormwind and we would have to take care of them ourselves once we got to Eversong.  
That night we slept in the open air so we could move out as soon as dawn arrived without having to put up and take down all of the tents again, Tryndamere had instructed a few men to watch out for any hostile movements and to keep the fires throughout the camp burning.  
We moved out as soon as dawn had introduced itself, and like all others we carried things, no exceptions made. I tried to carry a tent pole with Uzug but that didn't work out too well so he switched in for Ashe since she was about my height, making it a lot easier. We made our way through the mountain pass and through the snowy plains, I had a hard time keeping up to the pass they moved in, they were fast. Later that day we reached the oasis, we had a bit of trouble finding enough space for everybody but we managed to. We decided not to move any further, it was not so late yet, but it would take us half a day to cross the other part of the desert, so we stayed. I felt sorry for the fish in the lake here, there wouldn't be many left after we had left. I asked Thrall, who had regained most of his strength how long it would take for the Humans to arrive at the shores of Lordaeron, the kingdom next to the Eversong woods from which they would have to go further by foot. 'About four days', was his answer. That meant that after this day we had three days to prepare of which one we would need to travel for sure.  
I tried to think of any strategic plans with Tryndamere, who seemed an expert in those kinds of things, that evening. It was very obvious we were outnumbered, by far, we had to take on both the Humans of Noxus and the Humans of Stormwind, so we did have to use the terrain to our advantage. I tried to explain how the woods looked like and drew some sketches of the area, most of the terrain was equal but there were some changes here and there like hills and ditches from erosion which could function as choking points. My knowledge of the woods came in as a great advantage, Tryndamere explained what would be done and it seemed quite reasonable to me. He told me that some of the woods would have to be deforested to make his plans work, I agreed in this knowing that this would be the only way of having success. He then called his officers to explain the situation, I left the conversation to talk with the rest of our group about what Tryndamere and I had planned. Uzug and Tryndamere seemed intrigued by the plans; they admired such an art of warfare. They would both have to stand their ground and not let anyone pass, they liked such things. I however did not, I wouldn't want them in the most dangerous place but they assured me that the training they had had in the past week would allow them to overcome things like this.  
I couldn't sleep too well with all these things keeping my head in a restless state and I felt that the day after. The journey seemed to take ages and the pole Ashe and I carried seemed to weigh twice as much as before I carried on however, not wanting to show my weakness. In one of the breaks we took I mixed some of Korialstrasz' powder and water hoping that it would work again, it didn't however but it was well worth trying. I felt a spark of joy when we reached the border of the woods late afternoon but it was as quickly blotted out as it had aroused knowing that we had to travel all the way to Silvermoon if we weren't to give away the fact that we would have a surprise waiting within the forest. It was hard to manoeuvre a group like this through the woods but we came out if without many scars. On the other side was the city of Silvermoon, the capital of the Elves, a majestic city with walls of about twenty metres high, and statues of different important figures from the past were build in them, some I recognised, others were unknown to me to this day. We proceeded setting up our encampment again in front of the walls without any permission since Thrall's presence would give us sanctuary.  
We re-entered the woods now with only the six of us, Thrall went to see the leader of Silvermoon so we were without him. We looked for any hidden scouts but we could see nor hear any so we assumed they had already left. We made some preparations to the terrain putting it in our advantage when hell would break loose. We came back later with some men to chop down several trees which we used to make an artificial wall on one side of a clearance, this way the humans had to cross an open area and we would be hidden in the forest. We finished for the day when it was pitch black, I had no idea how late it was when we arrived back in the camp. It was all quiet between the tents and the fires were put out to not give away a thing. I entered my tent and just lay down not even bothering to undress, Leona came in soon after, but I was already drifting away.


	8. Chapter 8

After a week or so, we decided that we would have to go, I had found myself able to almost fully control my will, I could make things happen of which I had never ever dared to dream if I focused enough. Ashe had set up a rendezvous with the rest of the group at the camp in Freljord using her hawk to communicate. Rhonin had said to us that he would have liked to come with us but that he was not allowed to; the High Seven of Dalaran, in which Korialstrasz has a place too, decided with majority not to interfere with any of the races. As we prepared our bags to move out again Rhonin came to us. 'I know you have to leave', he said, 'but couldn't you rely on me to fix your transportation?' 'What do you mean?' I asked, 'wait, do you mean?' I suddenly remembered that some mages were able of conjuring portals to cross large distances in the blink of an eye. 'Yep', he responded. Rhonin had created one in no time, a purple edged singularity of space and time through which we could see Ashe's base camp. 'Move quickly', Rhonin said, 'it won't hold on for long, and Korialstrasz has to get back through it. We waved goodbye and jumped through it. On the other side the others were already waiting for us, if you can call it waiting, maybe they were just curious what had just appeared in front of their eyes. Korialstrasz greeted us and wished goodbye right after that, 'we will meet again', he said, and he jumped with into the portal. After he had jumped into it the edges pulled together and it disappeared. I was glad to see my friends again; I hoped they spend their time useful as well. It was only a few seconds later that I noticed that Thrall wasn't with the rest. 'Where is Thrall?' I asked. 'He is in his tent', Uzug said, it took a great deal of his strength to delay the humans of Stormwind so long, he is exhausted'. I rushed to his tent to see him. When I got in he lay on his bed, still focusing his mind on something it seemed. I told him to stop whatever he was doing and to regain his strength; we had to move to Eversong as quickly as possible. He looked to me and nodded slowly. He seemed to regain his strength gradually over that day. Tryndamere told me that the Noxians were not going to attack anywhere soon since Korialstrasz had really scared the hell out of them with his magical powers. So we broke up the camp and prepared to move out. Thrall would no longer delay the Humans of Stormwind and we would have to take care of them ourselves once we got to Eversong.  
That night we slept in the open air so we could move out as soon as dawn arrived without having to put up and take down all of the tents again, Tryndamere had instructed a few men to watch out for any hostile movements and to keep the fires throughout the camp burning.  
We moved out as soon as dawn had introduced itself, and like all others we carried things, no exceptions made. I tried to carry a tent pole with Uzug but that didn't work out too well so he switched in for Ashe since she was about my height, making it a lot easier. We made our way through the mountain pass and through the snowy plains, I had a hard time keeping up to the pass they moved in, they were fast. Later that day we reached the oasis, we had a bit of trouble finding enough space for everybody but we managed to. We decided not to move any further, it was not so late yet, but it would take us half a day to cross the other part of the desert, so we stayed. I felt sorry for the fish in the lake here, there wouldn't be many left after we had left. I asked Thrall, who had regained most of his strength how long it would take for the Humans to arrive at the shores of Lordaeron, the kingdom next to the Eversong woods from which they would have to go further by foot. 'About four days', was his answer. That meant that after this day we had three days to prepare of which one we would need to travel for sure.  
I tried to think of any strategic plans with Tryndamere, who seemed an expert in those kinds of things, that evening. It was very obvious we were outnumbered, by far, we had to take on both the Humans of Noxus and the Humans of Stormwind, so we did have to use the terrain to our advantage. I tried to explain how the woods looked like and drew some sketches of the area, most of the terrain was equal but there were some changes here and there like hills and ditches from erosion which could function as choking points. My knowledge of the woods came in as a great advantage, Tryndamere explained what would be done and it seemed quite reasonable to me. He told me that some of the woods would have to be deforested to make his plans work, I agreed in this knowing that this would be the only way of having success. He then called his officers to explain the situation, I left the conversation to talk with the rest of our group about what Tryndamere and I had planned. Uzug and Tryndamere seemed intrigued by the plans; they admired such an art of warfare. They would both have to stand their ground and not let anyone pass, they liked such things. I however did not, I wouldn't want them in the most dangerous place but they assured me that the training they had had in the past week would allow them to overcome things like this.  
I couldn't sleep too well with all these things keeping my head in a restless state and I felt that the day after. The journey seemed to take ages and the pole Ashe and I carried seemed to weigh twice as much as before I carried on however, not wanting to show my weakness. In one of the breaks we took I mixed some of Korialstrasz' powder and water hoping that it would work again, it didn't however but it was well worth trying. I felt a spark of joy when we reached the border of the woods late afternoon but it was as quickly blotted out as it had aroused knowing that we had to travel all the way to Silvermoon if we weren't to give away the fact that we would have a surprise waiting within the forest. It was hard to manoeuvre a group like this through the woods but we came out if without many scars. On the other side was the city of Silvermoon, the capital of the Elves, a majestic city with walls of about twenty metres high, and statues of different important figures from the past were build in them, some I recognised, others were unknown to me to this day. We proceeded setting up our encampment again in front of the walls without any permission since Thrall's presence would give us sanctuary.  
We re-entered the woods now with only the six of us, Thrall went to see the leader of Silvermoon so we were without him. We looked for any hidden scouts but we could see nor hear any so we assumed they had already left. We made some preparations to the terrain putting it in our advantage when hell would break loose. We came back later with some men to chop down several trees which we used to make an artificial wall on one side of a clearance, this way the humans had to cross an open area and we would be hidden in the forest. We finished for the day when it was pitch black, I had no idea how late it was when we arrived back in the camp. It was all quiet between the tents and the fires were put out to not give away a thing. I entered my tent and just lay down not even bothering to undress, Leona came in soon after, but I was already drifting away.


	9. Chapter 9

I was awakened by a tingling in my face and a beautiful smell. I opened my eyes to find my head in Leona's orange-gold hair. She was still snoring aloud when I went to look outside. Some citizens were in the camp seemingly getting along well with the barbarians, they laughed and inspected each other, I think that new things are always quite interesting. I went over to the main tent only to find Tryndamere in there with his officers. I didn't want to go all over this again since I knew exactly what would happen so I left again without Tryndamere even noticing I was ever there.'  
I walked right into Ashe who was just walking around thoughtlessly it seemed. I asked her whether she was ready for what would come. 'Always', she said, 'my husband seemed to have worked out a great plan with you so that does soothe my mind about it, he is very reliable when it comes to these things'. I nodded in agreement, 'we still have a day before they will be arriving, is there anything we can do more?' I asked. 'Not really, almost everything was done yesterday, and I guess Trynda will finish the last things' she replied. 'Right, how about a trip through the city then?' I asked, 'I mean you are right in front of it don't you want to see the inside?' Ashe smiled 'I'd love to'. I went over to my tent to look for Leona who would also want to come for sure. Uzug was sitting in front of the tent, 'are you coming with us to the city as well?' I asked him. 'Sure why not?' Leona suddenly exited the tent fully armoured just without her sword and shield, 'You wouldn't mind me coming with you as well, would you? 'Nope, I said, we were just going to ask you, where is Pantheon by the way?' 'Oh', Ashe said, 'he went to the woods to finish things up there'. 'Alright, I am sure he will get to see it another time', I winked to Leona, who thought for a moment and then winked back', I am glad she understood what I meant. We walked through the city, I showed Ashe and Leona some things that might interest them, figures from the past who had done great things for our race like those who were resembled in statues in the walls outside. Inside were even more statues, I told the different stories behind these people and they listened carefully. We watched how the city was touched by the camp in front of it and watched how more and more people went to see what was going on. We ate some in an inn and continued our trip when all of the sudden I heard someone yell, 'Ashe', there was only one person I knew who could yell in this heavy-voiced manner from such a distance, we all turned around and saw Tryndamere running towards us. 'Hurry, to the camp, the Humans of Stormwind will arrive early, we need to get in position as quickly as possible!' he quickly spoke when he stood in front of us. We ran to the camp which was already empty when we arrived, we quickly took everything we would need and ran off into the woods of Eversong, knowing that the time had inevitably come. I was relieved and scared at the same time. Relieved because I wanted this to be over as soon as possible and scared for the fact that it could go wrong. We arrived at the barricade we made earlier. Thrall and Pantheon were already waiting for us. 'How much time we got?' I asked. 'None', Thrall said, 'They can be here any moment'.  
So I waited, looking at the other side of the clearance, waiting for any movement. Tryndamere yelled some instructions like, 'Keep the flanks secure our only chance is fighting them off at the front'. I grabbed my bow hoping that my training at Dalaran would pay off here. After some time I heard some noise at the other side, I looked and saw Humans arriving, with both Noxian and Stormwind emblems on their armour. Tryndamere said in a low voice, 'We have to take them by surprise wait until they are at the half of the clearance'. I hated waiting but he was right. I strung an arrow on my bow and already aimed, knowing that they couldn't see us until they were close. I released when they had just crossed the half. Ashe quickly followed up.  
'Go!' Tryndamere yelled, he jumped over the about one metre fifty high blockades together with Leona, Uzug, Pantheon and a group of barbarians. The enemy did seem surprised by us, but not deterred. They started charging at us but we were better prepared than they apparently thought we would be. Leona called forth her flare and blinded the front lines of them, followed up by Thrall who threw his lightning bolts. I shot at whatever moved and didn't miss a single arrow, neither did Ashe. However, they came in great numbers and filled the clearance and soon reached our front line. Our flanks had their hands full with fighting them off. One would say it did not look good at all for us, but we had the Great Shaman with us and a close bond so we fought with great perseverance. Eventually after a minute or ten we even started winning but at a cost, every loss at our side was one too much for the evil intensions of both Stormwind and Noxus. It's a pity the good must pay for them. Suddenly I saw Uzug fall to the ground with an arrow in his chest I looked in the direction it came from I saw an archer lining up another arrow but I refused to ever let him have another shot in his life, I shot and hit him right in the throat. 'Uzug', I yelled, I shot in a rapid-fire wanting to end this as quickly as possible so I could attend to Uzug, his cry encouraged me to even shoot more carelessly. Pantheon looked at Uzug and I swear I saw fire burning in his eyes. He dashed recklessly on his own through the lines of the Humans and mowed them down in pure anger. This action fortunately made them realize they had no chance at all against people who fought with such fury and they started to flee. I jumped over the barricade and looked in Uzug's eyes, and felt his pulse; he was still alive, for that I was thankful but for how long? His injury was severe and would surely cost him his life. I fell to my knees, tears started to form in my eyes but then I realised what Rhonin had said, 'everything you are capable of is already in you'. These words echoed through my mind. I placed my hands on Uzug's chest and focused my mind in a desperate try. Every sound went to silence and everything went white before I passed out.  
I woke up in my tent with a terrible pain in my chest, the pain I had taken from Uzug. I panicked, and then I saw Thrall's face with a calm expression in his eyes. I wanted to ask where Uzug was but no words could escape my lips. 'Easy, young one, he is outside, you saved his life' I closed my eyes and thanked Rhonin for saying that one sentence, that had been, and would be the most important thing in my life. Uzug entered the tent together with the rest of our friends, I was happy to see him more than I could ever imagine. He thanked me for what I had done; I said that it would not be necessary to thank me for it. I looked at everyone, they all had a relieved expression on their faces and they surely would want to ask me many questions, I thanked everyone in my mind for helping me on my way through this and closed my eyes, knowing that I would not be tormented by any restless nights ever again.


End file.
